


On To Something New

by marmolady



Series: A New Reality: Endless Ending [8]
Category: Endless Summer (Visual Novel)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 08:02:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,025
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29486475
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marmolady/pseuds/marmolady
Summary: Intent on building their new life on La Huerta after the world beyond was lost, the Catalysts pay a visit to Rourke's MASADA complex to take advantage of all that has been left behind.
Relationships: Estela Montoya/Main Character (Endless Summer)
Series: A New Reality: Endless Ending [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1366216
Comments: 2
Kudos: 2





	On To Something New

The great spire of the MASADA complex loomed through the mist brought up by the raging waterfall. Taylor’s heart was in her throat. The day of this mission had been a long time coming; a significant step in the direction of creating a life on La Huerta. The way she saw it, if it weren’t for her cowardice, her friends would be home with their loved ones right now; she _had_ to make this life on their island sanctuary something worthy of them. Rarely did the Vaanti ships head this far north; the waters had always been treacherous, but with Cetus long gone, the journey was smoother than anticipated. So far, so good. The hard part, Taylor now believed, would be walking into a place that held dark memories around every corner.

“Right,” she said, turning from the icy waters to her friends, who surrounded her on the deck of the vast ship.“So, after checking on the hotel guests in the stasis chambers, the priorities are gonna be to scope out the greenhouses, and see what medical equipment and supplies we’re able to move ourselves.” She looked to Iris, who was by Aleister’s side as usual. “Your inventories are going to be a massive help; it looked like an absolute maze in there.”

Iris beamed. “I’d say even Everett didn’t know his way around the biological laboratories as well as I do. I daresay you’ll make more ethical use of that knowledge than _he_ ever did. As for everything else, I’ll certainly be able to assist if you have items of interest you’d like me to look up.

“Aleister will be some use as well,” Estela said, and she turned to her… she couldn’t think of him as her _brother_ , but… well, that guy. “You must have got pretty familiar with the place after you sold us all out.” The venom in her voice was unmistakable.

“Estela!” Grace exclaimed. It had mostly been plain sailing between the unexpected siblings, but with emotions running high in the lead-up to the mission, that uneasy peace was being tested. “That’s not helpful!”

Estela shrugged. “We should utilise what we have. It’s not my fault ‘what we have’ comes with an uncomfortable truth.” _Should have damn well thought of that before he left us to our deaths…._

His cheeks pink, Aleister bit back a sharp protest, but he couldn’t stop the scowl that soured his face. Uncomfortable was right. For a few moments, no one, bar Grace, would meet his eye. It came as no surprise to him that Sean was first to recover.

“We’re all on the same team now. This is gonna be hard enough without us turning on each other, all right? But, it is true; we can use all the information we can get-- this is about building our future.

“Thank you, Sean. At least _some of us_ have the maturity to let bygones be bygones.”

“I’ve already forgiven you,” Estela growled. “Considering your stupidity got me pinned down with my mother’s murderer holding a gun to my head, you should be grateful for that much. But there’s no way in hell I’ll let you forget.”

She stalked off without another word.

Zahra gave a low whistle. “Welp. She’s in a fun mood.”

Taylor exhaled heavily. Emotions were already running high, and she couldn’t honestly say that she was surprised.

“I’ll talk to her,” she said quietly. “This trip is bringing a whole lot of personal stuff up. Estela might need some space just to spend time in her mom’s old office, and just… feel things. I think we’re all gonna need to cut each other some slack today; this is gonna be a tough one.”

In the weeks prior, a Vaanti team had utilised their wizardry with pulley systems to create a network of elevators accessing the facility entrance high above the rushing waters. While several of her friends helped secure the boat and prepare to ascend, Taylor followed Estela to the boat’s stern, where she stood, shoulders hunched, watching the falls with glazed eyes.

“Hey.” Tentatively, Taylor put a hand on Estela’s shoulder.

Estela smiled weakly, and wrapped her fingers around her wife’s. “Hey. Are you ready for this?” _I’m not. Obviously._

“Actually, yeah. It feels good to be _doing_ something.” Taylor gazed up the towering structure before them. “Not gonna lie, though, my stomach’s doing some mad somersaults right now. It’s been a while since I’ve had jitters like this.”

“It’s almost as if last time we were here we witnessed the end of the world, got captured and held at gunpoint, got attacked by Jake’s brainwashed long-lost best friend… and, hang on-- didn’t you fall out of a crashing helicopter?”

Taylor chuckled. “Well, if you put it like that. I think my nerves might be fairly rational. Thank _god_ we’ve got Iris scanning for threats.” She tenderly stroked her thumb against the base of Estela’s neck. “However long you need to take; it’s fine. We’re on your side.”

“Oh, _mi amor…_ I know you are. But I’ve still got to summon up the courage to walk in that door. That’s… got to be me.” Estela wasn’t expecting to find much in her mother’s office, but the fact that Taylor had encountered a virtual reality cry for help told her that any cleaning out of the place had been at a surface level. There had to be something, some trace. In their pocket of sanctuary at the end of the world, a trace of a lost loved one would be nothing short of a miracle. But Estela remembered that numb nothingness she’d felt in the Elysian; the warmth that she’d felt from her mother had long since vanished. Once she stepped into her mother’s office, she’d either have her miracle, or just more… nothing. She took a deep breath and turned, seeing her friends begin to disembark. “Let’s do this.”

* * *

“Damn, this is eerie,” Diego said as he followed the group through the entrance corridor. He was _profoundly_ grateful for Varyyn’s presence at his side. “I mean, great it’s not crawling with Arachnid creeps anymore, but I keep expecting someone to jump out from behind a corner and point a gun at me. That’s not just me, right?”

Taylor shuddered. “Definitely not just you.”

“Would you like me to run another sweep to put your minds at ease?” Iris offered.

Estela nodded. “Can’t be too careful. Even if anyone _had_ somehow escaped the bloodbath after the mutiny, they wouldn’t have much to gain by attacking us now, but… I don’t think any of us want surprises here.”

“True that,” Raj agreed. “Unless it’s that Rourke had been keeping a secret greenhouse in here for fun medicinal substances, I’m putting an order in for a nice surprise-free expedition into the evil-genius lair. Rourke’s surprises have been more murder and less unexpected birthday bash, so I’m not holding up much hope. Hey-- you know, maybe a hash stash would have done that guy good….”

“Yeah,” Jake snorted. “Clearly, when Phony Stark was trying to yeet Princess into a mad time-vortex _thing_ , we should’ve just offered him a joint. That woulda smoothed it right over. Nah, we handled it right. So, uh, Katniss, on a scale of one to ten, just how turned-on _were_ ya when your girl booted the bastard straight into hell?”

“Shut up.”

“That’s a ten fo sure!” Craig cried, while Estela just rolled her eyes, a slight blush dusting her cheeks.

“ _Must_ you people be so crass? _All_ the time?”

Quinn laughed gently. “They’re just lightening the mood, Alli. I think some of us need that.”

When the group arrived at Hydrodynamic Stasis, a sombre air settled upon them, and no amount of joking around could shift it.

“What… what’s their status, Iris?” Taylor asked quietly.

“All vital signs are within the normal range. Despite the initial loss of life when some of the guests responded poorly to the stasis fluid, the survival outcome is actually much higher than the initial projection. There’s no reason to believe that it won’t be safe to maintain the current situation until you feel the time is right to wake the guests.”

“Thanks. I guess that’s the best we could hope for.”

Together, the group walked the length of the room, visually checking each of the hotel guests. Even knowing the inhabitants were safe and stable, it was some reassurance to see it for themselves.

“I hate this,” Sean lamented. “I really hate this.”

Taylor looked over the rows of tanks, bodies suspended in fluid, only the glowing readings giving away that life prevailed. She shuddered. How could anyone _not_ hate this?

“It’s… seriously messed up. But it’s a rock and a hard place situation. What’s more cruel? Leave them like this, or wake them up to the knowledge that everything, _everyone_ they’ve ever known and loved are gone?”

“Are we ever going to have a unanimous agreement on this? Really? Or are they just going to be stuck like this?”

Michelle put a hand to the glass of one of the tanks. Would _she_ want to be woken up to this nightmare? Quite frankly, there were days that she’d envied the guests in their unknowing slumber. “This is too big to make decisions on anything less. This is people’s lives.”

The discussions had gone on for hours. In the end, the consensus had been that in the aftermath of the outside world’s destruction, there was not one person within the group with the mental and emotional stability to be expected to handle the strain that would come with waking up the guests, with helping them adjust to their new existence on the last refuge that was La Huerta. They’d give it another year; establish themselves, create a functioning community, try and sort out their own heads, work through a colossal mountain of grief, and then… then they’d talk it over again.

“Listen, I had a thought,” Craig piped up.

Zahra sniggered. “That’s the scariest thing I’ve heard this week…, and that _includes_ ‘there’s a _klaawyi_ in the hot tub’.”

“If we’re meant to repopulate the Earth or something, a few more people might help. You guys see anyone you like?”

“God, Craig! Do you really think that’s funny?”

“Nah, it’s just the facts! It’s gonna be a _really_ tiny dating pool for you single peeps if we just leave all these people in tanks.”

Quinn gazed wistfully into the serene face of a balding middle-aged man, suspended in time. He could be sleeping. What he’d thought would just been a tropical island holiday might have saved his life… but what had he left behind? “It would be nice to talk to someone else from home. But we can’t do this for selfish reasons; if we make that choice, it has to be for _them.”_

“Agreed.” Estela nodded curtly. When Rourke died, they’d been left responsible for these people, and that counted for something.

“Well,” Taylor said, “there’s not really anything else we can do here. I think we should split up, get our bearings, and scope out what we should be taking back to Elyys’tel today.” She gently took the hand by her side. “Estela and I are going to check out her mom’s old office, so we might need a while. Maybe if we meet back in the entrance corridor in an hour?”

“Maybe make it two,” Jake suggested. “Last time I took on a labyrinth, I had to put aside a whole half a day.”

“A _whole_ half?” Aleister sneered. “Do you even listen to yourself talk sometimes--?”

Michelle sighed heavily, cutting in. Coming face to face with Rourke’s suspended prisoners was affecting, and she was not in any mood to standing around listening to her companions’ crap. “Two hours? Sure, whatever.”

Most of the group filed out, but Quinn lingered, waiting for Michelle.

“Hey….” She grasped her friend’s hand. “We’re going to get them through this. After all the things we’ve done? There’s not a chance we’re going to fall down now. It’s… just going to take time.”

Michelle managed a weak smile. “I’m trying to believe that.”

Together, the two women sat down in the next room, relieved to no longer have their eyes drawn to those haunting figures that floated serenely in their pods, unknowing. Everything about this was hard. There were a million personal implications for the situation in which the Catalysts had found themselves; where they’d live, what they’d even _do_ with their lives, and visiting the hotel guests was a sobering reminder of just how big of a question mark hung over it all. To Quinn, Michelle felt she could at least vent freely. That kind of friendship had been a lifeline.

“It scares the crap out of me to think that Craig might actually be right. Any chance of romance basically went down the drain with the rest of the world. How the _hell_ am I supposed to make sense of how I feel about Sean when that’s hanging over me? I can’t be with him just because I’m terrified there will never be anyone else. But I care about him; so much.”

Quinn put a supportive arm around Michelle’s shoulder. “I think he knows. Have you… have you really talked since everything settled?”

“We have,” Michelle said. “And I’m _so_ glad we did. Basically, we agreed that we’re open to getting back together in the future, but… we both need some time apart to get over the hurt, and to work out what it is we both really want.” She sighed heavily, leaning her head back against the wall. “Right now, I just don’t know. If I’m not meant to be with Sean….”

As Michelle roughly brushed a tear from her eye, Quinn caught her hand and gently squeezed her fingers. “One way or another, you are going to be loved,” Quinn said, and she met Michelle’s eye with all the sincerity that she could possibly pour into that gaze. What she saw there was uncertainty. “I… I get it,” she continued. “It’s not the same, but… I had a… sort of _thing_ with Taylor, back when we first arrived on the island. Not anything _serious_ , I mean, we weren’t ‘seeing each other’… but it was something. There were a few kisses-- _amazing_ kisses-- and I felt really close to her. Then, it’s like… I blink and there she was, gone.” She hurriedly added, “Don’t get me wrong; I’m so happy for Taylor and Estela. They fit. I’m just a little….”

“Sad for you?”

“Yeah,” Quinn said, a weak smile quirking upon her mouth. “It’s hard not to feel like I missed my chance at something special. But, I guess… love has always been ‘now or never’ for me; it might be good for me to learn to trust that I have time. I’ve got a future now, and that uncertainty can also be, you know, _hope._ ”

Michelle looked into Quinn’s brilliant blue eyes, and smiled. That perspective was so starkly different to her own outlook. It helped.

“Well, if you have any bumps in the road while you’re learning, I’ll always be here for you to vent to. So long as you don’t mind me bitching about life right back.”

Quinn laughed, and leaned her head against Michelle’s shoulder. “A girl can always use a bitching buddy. _Especially_ when she’s got the end of the world to contend with. You are an amazing friend, ‘Chelle.”

Michelle’s cheeks grew hot. _That_ was something she didn’t think she’d ever heard. Certainly not with any amount of honesty behind the words. And yet, coming from Quinn, she knew they were spoken with total sincerity.

“You too, Quinn.”

Meanwhile, Estela and Taylor returned upstairs and reached the office of Dr. Olivia Montoya. Knowing it was the only way she’d ever get herself to do it, Estela pushed open the door without hesitation. Ripping off the bandage.

Save for dust and dis-used lab equipment, the room was pristine. It could have been anyone’s laboratory. Estela’s eyes wandered over the bulletin board, her eyes lingering on a complicated series of sketches. She felt a pang; her mom had drawn those up. Though she knew it likely pointless, Estela began opening drawers, and for the most part-- as expected-- they were empty.

“It’s strange to be here,” she said quietly. “In the beginning, Mom was so impressed. Rourke International’s labs in San Trobida were not state of the art, and this was just… the best of everything. I could feel her excitement when she wrote to me, like it was so big it couldn’t help but come through on paper. She felt like she was doing something good; purposeful.” It was impossible to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

Finally, her search came up with something… a few pages of notes full of scientific ramblings on the properties of the crystals, and a whole lot of equations. It was so chock-full of jargon it might as well be jibberish, but it made Estela’s heart leap. _This_ , this simple thing, was what she’d been hoping for.

“None of this means a thing to me,” Estela chuckled sadly, “but it’s her.” She ran a finger delicately along the pen strokes. “There’s something so personal about handwriting, and I saw hers every day for fifteen years.” Something so little, but so very comforting. She looked up, and gave Taylor a weak smile. “I… think I’d like to spend some time here alone. This is the closest I’ve felt to my mom in so long. You… understand?”

Taylor hugged her. “Of course. This is personal; whatever you need, just… you’re sure you’ll be okay?

“Yes, I’m sure.” Estela gave her wife’s fingers a quick squeeze as she stepped away. “I’ll likely be a while, and you’ll probably be more useful actually doing something.” She took a deep breath. “You got me this far. Now I just… need some time.”

Then, she was alone. Alone with her thoughts and… something that stirred within. A feeling of closeness to a presence she’d long missed, a feeling that was both beautiful and agonising.

“I hope you know I’m here,” she murmured. “I made it. You saved me.” _You’re at peace, right?_ She had to believe that was how this worked. “I couldn’t save Tio Nicolas-- I guess if there’s any part of you left, you’d already know that; you’d be together.” Her voice broke. “I-I’m so sorry. I owe him everything.”

Estela could not stop the tears from coming. She slid to the floor, and sat there, letting herself feel… and cry. The death of her uncle was something she’d not been able to take in; it didn’t feel real yet, not in the way it had been when her mom had died. Perhaps the burning of the world was too immense to be tangible in any real way… or maybe there was a barrier that her tired mind put up to prevent her from delving too deep into that particular area. There was only so much, she imagined, a person could take . _God,_ she was afraid of breaking down. If she broke down, what desperate measures could it drive Taylor to? She couldn’t, she _wouldn’t_ have another person sacrifice themself for her benefit. So, she worked through her pain one piece at a time, taking on just enough of her own heartache to keep moving forward; to heal rather than drown.

As the tears slowly subsided, she roughly wiped her eyes and once again picked up the page of notes, which she’d set aside for fear of damaging. It wasn’t enough. It could never be enough. Every small sense she gleaned of her mother just told Estela how much was _missing._ Then, her eyes fell upon a broken up computer, and her mind whirred. That thing was attached to a headset… which meant that it _had_ to be….

She tinkered with the trashed machine, her frustration growing as she realised she didn’t have the faintest idea how to piece it back together.

“ _Work_ , you goddamn piece of crap….” she growled, while her best effort literally fell apart in her hands. Her eyes stung with tears. She was so _close_ to seeing her mother’s face again….

“Yeah, uh,” came a voice from the doorway, “it got a bit banged-up when I rescued Tayls. My b.”

Estela jumped. It was not often _she_ was caught by surprise.

“You don’t happen to have come across any more experimental weapons in here? Your mom didn’t just have the _one_ laser cannon? ”

Zahra hurried in the door. “For fuck’s sake, Craig-- what part of ‘give her space’ is beyond your comprehension?”

“It’s okay,” Estela said, mildly irritated by the intrusion, but quick to see an opportunity. She made eye contact with Zahra, and held it. “But I could use a hand with this. If there was any hope of it actually working again… I’m pretty sure you’re it.”

“True, _true.”_ Zahra sucked her cheek, thoughtfully. Feelings weren’t exactly her _thing_ , but it struck her that encountering a virtual reality projection of one’s dead relative just might be akin to self-torture. But, she supposed, it was up to Estela. If she was going to argue with that chick, she’d save it for a hill she _wanted_ to die on. “Fine. But I bear no responsibility for any emotional distress that comes of it. I’m just the technical support.”

“Z, you trust that thing---”

“Craig, it was not about to murder Taylor. It wouldn’t even have latched onto her head if you hadn’t _literally_ told it to. Just learn from your experience and…. Don’t. Touch. Anything.”

Craig huffed a little, and sat down on a stool. “Well, I’m standing guard, just in case.”

Estela couldn’t help but quirk a small smile. “Our hero.”

“Right,” Zahra said, striding over to the busted terminal. “Let’s see what we got here.”

After nearly half an hour, and shushing Craig around eight times, Zahra stepped away from the computer with a look of satisfaction on her face. “Looks like we’re in business,” she announced. Then, she grabbed Estela by the sleeve. “Stand right about… _here_.

Estela felt her heart in her throat… then everything went dark. Suddenly, it was as though she was standing in blue-walled room, the foreign environment surrounding her in every direction. She could hear nothing but her own heartbeat, pounding, pounding away. And then… there she was. Her mother. Olivia looked real, _solid,_ like all Estela needed to do was reach out, and she could be in her arms once more.

_“Hello. I’m Olivia Montoya. For several years I’ve been assigned to Rourke International’s Omega Specimen project.”_

The fear and urgency Estela saw in her mother’s eyes was haunting, and it hit her like a physical blow to the chest. It brought back that same feeling in herself, and the frantic, futile scrambling to prevent an unfolding tragedy. Tears rolled down Estela’s cheeks, cascading rapidly, beyond her control. Even as she grasped for every detail of the sound of her mother’s voice, the quirks of that serious face, the presentation passed as if a blur, and it was over.

_“Rourke International must be stopped before this project becomes a terrible reality. Thank you.”_

The headset unlocked, releasing itself from Estela’s head. Her breath became ragged. It wasn’t enough. Instinctively, she reached out, smashing the buttons on the interface, and once again the visor latched to her. The presentation played again, and for a few wonderful, painful minutes, Estela might have been standing in the room with her mom. It was all wrong; for all the appearances of reality, this vision of her mother stared right through her in a way the real thing never could. And still she couldn’t look away.

A third play-through. A forth. And then--

The headset released itself, and Estela returned to reality. Zahra was standing by the power-point, an apologetic grimace across her face.

“Sorry, ‘Stel--”

“--Don’t call me that.”

“Yeah, you’ve had enough. You’re teetering right on the edge of losing your mind, there. C’mon. Take a break. I won’t stop you from going back and torturing yourself some more, but take a break first, all right?”

For a brief moment, Estela wanted to lash out, to rage at Zahra. What right did she have to make her stop? But she caught herself, and instead broke down in sobs.

 _That_ , by Zahra’s reckoning, was even more uncomfortable to deal with. To her relief, Craig took the lead, sitting down on the cold floor beside Estela and wrapping her in a hug.

Comforted by her friend’s embrace, Estela let forth a torrent of emotion, until she was left hiccoughing through the last tears left to cry as Craig roughly patted her on the back. Zahra sat down by her other side, and didn’t flinch away as she rested her head on her shoulder.

“I know you think I’m an idiot,” Estela said bitterly as she wiped her wet face. “I’m not a sadist… I just couldn’t bear the thought of there being a part of her left, no matter what it was… and me walking away from it.”

“Bro. I would do _anything_ to see my l’il man, Joey again, no matter how much it would rip my heart out. I get it.”

Estela exhaled, her body heavy after all the crying. She didn’t know how she’d wound up with such good friends, but they damn well meant the world to her now. After all that had been lost… there couldn’t be any judgement. For a long while, they sat there on the floor in shared silence, just letting the loss hang over them. Estela knew that at the end of the day… she was lucky. What she had was nowhere near enough, but it was far more than her friends had been left with. They were hurt, but they were with her.

“Craig,” Estela said, breaking the long stretch of quiet, “Joey was really lucky to have you. You’re a pretty good big brother.”

“How do you know tha-- _oh!_ Heh. Thanks! You’re a pretty good terrifying little sister.”

Estela snorted a grateful laugh.

“You know, Estela,” Craig said, “I would have loved to meet your mom. Who the hell keeps a legit _laser cannon_ in their office? Bad. Ass.”

“Of course,” she said. How could she not be proud of her mother? “You’re talking about the woman who raised me.” _It was no damn wonder Rourke felt threatened._ Olivia Montoya was far to strong to stand down in the face of a great evil; it was that which Estela knew she carried within herself.

“Aiight-- you’re clearly feeling better,” Zahra declared, edging out of the hug. “I’m gonna just disappear before this takes an even sharper turn into Sappytown.” As she looked up, she saw, to her great relief, Taylor coming to check on the wife she’d pretty irresponsibly left moping around her dead mom’s old office. “Oh-- hang on-- looks like the _mayor_ of Sappytown is back.” She stood up quickly, and grasped the shoulder of a confused Taylor as she passed her in the doorway. “You’re welcome. She’s your problem now. Enjoy.”

“’Stel?”

Estela shook her head, sheepish, as Craig got up and followed after Zahra.

“Hello, Taylor.” She accepted a hand and got to her feet. “So… I wasn’t quite as okay as I thought. But I will be. Thankfully, I had Team Namasiao looking after me.”

Taylor’s face was awash with worry. “Honey, I’m so sorry I wasn’t there for you--”

Estela chuckled and hushed her wife with a finger to her lips. “Stop that-- I told you what I needed, and you listened. As much as you might want to, and I _know_ you want to; you can’t shield me from things I need to feel.”

“Fine. I’m not sorry. I just want to hug you right now.”

“Better.” Estela hooked an arm around Taylor’s neck, nuzzled close to her, and kissed her cheek, hard. “I love you,” she said softly.

Taylor stroked Estela’s back, feeling the tension still held there. “I love you too. And even if I can’t stop you from ever hurting… I’ve got you.”

“I know.”

For a few moments longer, Estela gazed around the office, not letting herself miss a detail. There was so little of her mother left there, but the scraps that remained were precious beyond words. It was all she’d ever have-- and she was utterly thankful that in the hurry to escape, the group hadn’t simply blown the complex to smithereens, however much she’d wanted to at the time. She exhaled slowly and deeply.

“I’m done. I think what I need now is to do something useful.” She swallowed hard. “We’re here to work on our future; something safe and peaceful. Mom would have wanted that… it’s all she ever really wanted for me.”

Taylor hugged Estela tight wishing she could do so much more to help. “We’re gonna have all that. I promise.”

As she came away, Estela met her wife’s eyes and nodded. Their future would not be what any of them could have imagined; but it was theirs to take. “Come on. Everyone’s probably already meeting back up.”

* * *

The mission stretched out into the afternoon, with a rest and lunch break taken in the middle of the day to keep any hunger-related bad moods at bay. At long last, though, it came time to begin loading up the boat with the mountain of medical supplies, useful machinery, and the entire contents of one of a high-tech greenhouse. A large team of Vaanti had assembled to help move some of the heaviest items-- those that even Craig hadn’t a hope of shifting.

Tired though she was, Michelle was buzzing. “I can’t believe it; our med centre is truly going to happen!We have defibrillators, we have EKG machines… blanket warmers, electrosurgical units, anaesthesia machines, a freaking _X-ray machine_ \-- I swear I’ve died and gone to med-student heaven!”

Quinn, too, was grinning from ear to ear. Looking to the future was something that hadn’t always come easy for her, but now, with the beginnings of the life they were creating for themselves coming together… she could see clear blue skies ahead. “Just wait until we work out a way to bring that MRI scanner back,” she laughed.

A little way behind them, Varyyn and Diego were propping up massive glass tank, its windows foggy… and something moving within. Taylor and Estela caught up with them, immediately intrigued by whatever the hell _that_ was.

A creature, something akin to a large salamander, lifted a dark, purplish and smooth-skinned head up from its long body. Its unblinking eyes were small and largely featureless, and smoke poured from the edges of its broad mouth. As it opened its mouth in threat, a glowing flow of lava dribbled forth.

“ _What the…?”_ Taylor exclaimed. La Huerta never ceased to amaze her. Whatever Rourke had been keeping this thing for, though, could not have been good.

Varyyn’s expression was one of conflicting emotions; of pain that the Hydra had taken possession of one of Vaanu’s unique living treasures… and relief that they could right the wrong that had been done. “You remember our theory that Furball is destined to become the next Mountain Guardian? Well, I am certain this is Furball’s counterpart from the Deep.”

Taylor approached cautiously. As the creature stared at her with dark, beady eyes, a fresh swell of lava materialised beneath its feet. That glass, steamed-up so thick that the creature would intermittently be invisible save for a red glow, had to be insanely strong. “Woah. So, Diego, I guess you can cross ‘catch an actual Charmander’ off your bucket list now?”

“You know, Charmander isn’t quite as cute as I’d expected. Still a win, though.”

“I guess,” Estela said, as the small monster turned and hissed at her, “you’ll be making a trip down into the caverns. I can’t see this thing being adopting us as its family like Furball has.”

Varyyn nodded. “This young Guardian must be home. It causes me pain to think how long the Hydra kept him captive like this.” He shuddered, and Taylor put a gentle hand on his arm-- clearly offering the comfort Diego couldn’t reach to give. “The release of this creature will be symbolic for all Vaanti; Vaanu and all who live here are now free of the Hydra’s poison.”

 _As free as we ever will be, anyway_ , Estela thought to herself. Some things, she knew, lingered on.

The lava monster was carefully placed onto the elevator, and taken down to the boat under Varyyn’s direct supervision-- with Diego by his side to offer an extra pair of hands. With the most interesting find being loaded up, Estela turned her attention to Aleister, who appeared to be struggling with a trolley stacked with pallets of clearly-flourishing plants.

“You need a hand there?” she asked.

Aleister huffed. “Help _me?_ I’m surprised your pride can take it--”

“I don’t wanna stay in this place any longer than I have to,” Estela said with a shrug. “We’ll be done sooner if I don’t just stand and watch you drop everything. Besides… I don’t want things to be bad between us.”

Though he said nothing, the shadow of a smile crossed Aleister’s face. It could only make sense that being in this place had made Estela touchy, but he also knew she was intelligent enough to not waste her energies picking fights with someone on her own side. He took a side of one of the stacked-up pallets, and with Estela holding up the other side, carried the awkward thing to the elevator.

It felt like an age before the boat was loaded up, and protective tarpaulins covering the many plants that had been procured. If a plantation was to be set up in the shadow of Elyys’tel-- near the site that had been tentatively chosen for a new Catalyst village--, then the precious cargo had to make the journey with minimal exposure to the inevitable snowfall between MASADA and more tropical climes. All manner of hospital-grade medical equipment had been safely secured, under the guard of Michelle, who excitedly explained the purpose of every contraption to the enthralled Vaanti healers who had already taken her under her wing.

Everyone got comfortable for the journey back to the village; once they arrived, it would be back to business all over again-- a boatload of supplies wouldn’t unload themselves. For the time being, though, all was relaxed and easy. Even the strange lava monster had ceased its angry hissing.

Taylor slouched across the side of the boat, her arm brushing against Estela’s and feeling her shivering.

“Just a few hours and we’ll be passed out on a beach, catching the last rays of the day,” she said, letting the image in her mind warm her, just a little. “I seriously _cannot_ wait.”

Estela’s teeth chattered. She was not, nor did she believe she ever _would_ be, a cold weather person. That afternoon chill coming off the sea was vicious and biting. “Y-you don’t m-mind keeping me w-warm in the meantime?”

Taylor put her arms around her wife and held her tight. She gently brushed a kiss to Estela’s cold nose. “How’s that?”

Estela smiled, her already rosy cheeks flushing with pleasure. “Much better.”

Snuggling in, Taylor sighed happily. Just maybe, this might be all right. A long road ahead remained, but… when she looked over her friends-- her family-- they were so animated, excited after a mission that been the nearest thing they’d experienced to actually taking control and making this new life theirs. Optimism, the spark that slipped away from her like grains of sand through her fingers, was restored in her heart, blazing stronger than it had since the day she’d been forced into that impossible choice. Together, one step at a time, she honestly believed her friends could take on anything, and they’d give her the courage to do the same. They were moving on to something new. And they were full of hope.


End file.
